Tom Cole
Varsity Head Coach
Tom Cole is in his 17th season as Lady Panthers varsity head coach in a nearly 30-year career of coaching youth in Missouri and Oregon. Under Coach Cole, South Medford has become a perennial state and nationally recognized program, earning South Medford Lady Panthers basketball the distinction as a Nike Elite high school program. Prior to Cole’s arrival, the Lady Panthers had gone 1 and 48. Within five years, the program won its first state championship, finished nationally ranked and became the only team in Oregon large school classification history to finish a perfect 30 and 0.
Coach Cole’s record over 17 seasons is 347 and 96, which includes winning three state titles, while also leading the Lady Panthers to the final eight state championship tournament in 14 of the past 15 seasons. The Lady Panthers have accomplished 11 undefeated SWC league championships with a conference record under Cole’s tenure of 186 and 28. Cole has been named SWC coach of the year 10 times, OSAA coach of the year in 2012 and Oregon Coaches Association coach of the year in 2012, 2013 and 2020. The Lady Panthers have celebrated 28 student athletes moving forward with college scholarships during his tenure, with many of them at the highest NCAA levels.
Coach Cole’s true passion is the empowerment work of Kids Unlimited, a nonprofit youth development agency he helped start nearly 25 years ago. Kids Unlimited today provides more than 2,500 students representing vulnerable communities with preschool, charter school, afterschool and summer programs.
You can contact Tom at tom@ladypantherhoops.com
Tiani Bradford
Varsity Assistant Coach
Coach Tiani is in her third year at the high school level contributing to her fifth year of coaching. She also is in her second year helping coach the South Medford AAU program. Prior to joining South Medford, Tiani was an assistant coach for two years at Southern Oregon University, where she played collegiately.
When Coach Tiani is not coaching for South, she works as Food Program Director for Kids Unlimited, where she helps to handle all things on the administrative side, providing high-quality, nutritious, made-from-scratch meals to KU Academy students and KU Afterschool Program participants.
Hannah Warren
Varsity Assistant Coach
Coach Hannah Warren is an Oregon native who grew up in Corvallis. A former Division I player in the Big Sky conference, Hannah has spent many years on the court. As an undergraduate student, she studied biochemistry at University of Montana and played under coach Robin Selvig for the Lady Grizz. During her five-year career, Montana made the NCAA tournament twice and the National Invitation Tournament once.
After graduating, she attended Oregon State University to achieve her master’s degree in Science Education. This is Hannah’s seventh season with the Lady Panthers.
Ted Curtis
JV Coach
Coach Ted has been a dedicated coach and mentor to kids for over 18 years coaching AAU and high school teams for the South Medford girls’ basketball program. He’s coached Frosh, JV2 and JV at the high school level for 15 years.
Ted’s commitment to kids has made a huge impact on the success of the program at all levels. Ted continues to coach at the AAU and development level for younger kids. Ted’s teams are always competitive. Ted is the owner of Curtius Plumbing, and both have been generous contributors to Panthers sports for nearly two decades.